July Book Haul

There’s nothing like a successful trip to the bookstore.

Today I trotted off to my local Dymocks. I only intended to buy one or maybe two books, but I ended up with four. Somehow, this kind of thing always happens to me. When I went up to the counter and the cashier looked at me as if I was a crazy book-buying person, I confessed to her that I may indeed have a problem.

I just can’t help myself, though, because books are so great.

Here is a little preview of my latest book-haul, and some of the books you can expect to see being reviewed in the next couple of weeks.

Breathing Under Water

I have been really excited for Sophie Hardcastle’s latest novel, Breathing Under Water which came out a couple of days ago. I loved her first book, Running Like China, which was a memoir about her struggle with Bipolar 1 Disorder. I am super keen to get stuck into this one. And just look at that beautiful cover!

Nineteen minutes and eleven seconds separated us at birth. On the official documentation, he is older . . . Although it really has nothing to do with age. What it really means is that I am, and have always been, second.

Ben and Grace Walker are twins. Growing up in a sleepy coastal town it was inevitable they’d surf. Always close, they hung out more than most brothers and sisters, surfing together for hours as the sun melted into the sea. At seventeen, Ben is a rising surf star, the golden son and the boy all the girls fall in love with. Beside him, Grace feels like she is a mere reflection of his light. In their last year of school, the world beckons, full of possibility. For Grace, finishing exams and kissing Harley Matthews is just the beginning.

Then, one day, the unthinkable. The sun sets at noon and suddenly everything that was safe and predictable is lost. And everything unravels.

BREATHING UNDER WATER is a lyrical and emotionally powerful novel about life, death and learning to breathe in between.

Love, Lies and Spies

The next one that caught my eye is Love, Lies and Spies by Cindy Anstey. This, apparently, is a historical fiction novel with a bit of YA-styled romance.

Juliana Telford is not your average nineteenth-century young lady. She’s much more interested in researching ladybugs than marriage, fashionable dresses, or dances. So when her father sends her to London for a season, she’s determined not to form any attachments. Instead, she plans to secretly publish their research.

Spencer Northam is not the average young gentleman of leisure he appears. He is actually a spy for the War Office, and is more focused on acing his first mission than meeting eligible ladies. Fortunately, Juliana feels the same, and they agree to pretend to fall for each other. Spencer can finally focus, until he is tasked with observing Juliana’s traveling companions . . . and Juliana herself.

Spark and Stray

Spark and Stray are part of a series by Rachael Craw. These YA novels are science-fiction / romance / fantasy and they sound pretty awesome. When the lady in the bookstore scanned them for me she got really excited and told me the series is incredible. The third book is coming out later this year.

Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits.

It’s hard to remember hating anything as much as I hate Affinity; a bone-deep loathing for the faceless unknown and the concrete walls of my own DNA.

Evie is a Shield: designed to kill in order to protect, and the Affinity Project have finally come for her. But Evie isn’t ready for the sinister organisation to take control of her life, her body, her mind. She isn’t ready to follow their rules about who may live and who must die – not when it condemns the innocent. She has one option: risk losing everything and everyone – including Jamie – and run.

What books are on your to be read shelf? Do you have any recommendations?